Given that we have a squad of full time professional athletes, why not give as many as possible a run out at York ?

The weather at the start of the SL season will be no better, yet we will hear the usual excuses of being "underdone" after 2 or 3 games !

We have a load of guys who have flown half way around the globe who surely need a run-out; why not give then 15 mins at York and then longer time in the two remaining games ?

I understand that the younger guys need to be seen but isn't that what the U23s is about - we should be focussing on getting 20 players ready for the first few SL games.

It's a fine balance, isn't it? Every game brings a risk of injury (see Scott Moore who now needs bicep surgery after last week's friendly) and I doubt a heavy pitch helps. I reckon Radford would rather minimise this risk and be "undercooked". Spine's broadly the same as last year apart from 13 and squad's big enough for first team combinations to be worked on in training games against the squad named for York.

I agree that injuries are an issue that they will be concerned with and I see both points of view above however call me cynical but for me I would also throw in the fact that the issue of our financial situation at present dictates that Pritchard will be held back for the Derby to increase the impact he has on the gate. As I say perhaps I'm seeing more into it but that scenario is not good for me because as TLJ says the selections for all games should be based on the need to incrementally assess and develop the squad pre season. To hold Frank back will immediately put extra pressure on him I think. But as Mrs B says its a fine balance, York should, looking at the weather forecast, be academic anyway, because the game could well be off I reckon!

I must be a cynic too wilf. Don't they do it every year with the high profile signings? Stupid IMO. With our fixtures this year we need to hit the ground running

Chinese writing?

I remember the disastrous pre season game against a physical Huddersfield side, think it was 2008 or thereabouts, think we suffered 3 or 4 significant injuries to first team players? It's a bit "damned if you do damned if you don't" but I'd prefer undercooked and no injuries to the other way round personally. More rain today...

Totally agree Mrs b. Dammed if you do dammed if you don't. All I know is I can't wait for the new season COYH

Isnt this fixture just a case of meeting a contractual obligation? I think its a good idea to give the bottom half of the roster a run out considering how early it is in pre-season.

I agree, while I would like to see the new signings having a run-out it is a perfect opportunity to give the young kids some experience, perfect opportunity with it being a friendly and against a lower division team that wont push them too hard.

On the flip side due to the injuries I recall Tom Briscoe made his debut against Warrington. I think the game was Paul King's testimonial match.